English
And they also refer to individual writers, whether they had become the founders of Charanas, or whether they enjoyed an authority as teachers of law and other subjects con- nected with the intellectual pursuits of the early Brahmans. There is, however, one fact that seems to militate against the distinction between the Br&hmanas and SAtras, in so far as it assigns a very early origin, and a traditionary character, to at least some works which were written in SAtras, At the time of Ed.ty&yana, if not at the time of P&nini, there ex- isted SAtras, which were not then considered as the works of modern or at least well-known au- thors, like Asval&yana or K&ty&yana, but indicated by their very name, that they had formed, for a time, part of the traditional literary property of a Gharana, or of some learned school. Their titles are formed on the same principle as the titles of ancient Brd.h- manas. The affix in (nini) is added to the names of their reputed authors, and this, as we know, is a mark that their authors were considered as Rishis or inspired writers.^ Their works are not quoted in the singular, like all modern Siitras (for instance, " this is the ceremonial of A&maratha," iti kalpa 46- marathah), but,-^-and this is a characteristic feature of the ancient traditional literature of India — in the masculine plural, the literary works being supposed Cf. Pan. iv,3. 103—110. The SAti-as from 106 are not ex- plained in the Mah&bh­a according to the Calcutta edition.^ KALPA. 185 to have their only substantial existence in the minds or memories of those persons who read or taught them. We find, for instance, " thus say the Par&- 6arins, the iSail&lins, the Earmandins, the Eri^vins," whereas the work even of F&nini himself is quoted as " the P&niniyam," as it were " Panineum," not as " the P&nineyins." ^ But although these quotations refer to Siitras, it ought to be observed that not one of them refers to Kalpia, or ceremonial SMras. Where P&nini (iv. 3. 105.), or rather his commentator, quotes works on Ealpa in a similar, though not in ex- actly the same manner, we must bear in mind that expressions like ^^ Paingi kalpah," ^^ the ceremonial taught by the old sage Pinga, ^^ Eau&ikt kalpah," '^ the ceremonial taught by the old sage Eu6ika," may refer to portions of the Br&hmanas which are called kalpa, ceremonial, in contradistinction to the br&hmana or the purely theological discussions ^ ; and it is nowhere said that these old Ealpas were ?nritten in 1 Ealpa-d^tras were composed contemporaneously with Panioi, and eyen after his tim^ as, for instance, the Siitras of ASvalajana and Eatj&jana, which we still possess, and those of Aimarathya, which are lost. The last are quoted in the commentary to Ponini (iv. 3. 106.), as a modem work on Kalpa ; yet A^vaUyana in his Sutras, V. 13., refers tQ Admarathya as an authority, whom he follows in opposition to other teachers whose opinion he rejects. Cf. A&y, StLtra, t 13. ; Indische Studien, i. 45. 2 The wording of the Siitra, ''Puranaprokteshn hr&hmanakal- peshu" seems to confirm this interpretation. The Paingins must be considered as a Brihmana-charana, for there is a Paingyam, the work of a Paingin, quoted in the Kaushitaki-br4hmana, and in a doubtful passage of the Aitareya-br&hmana. It is di£3cult to say anything equally positive about the Eaudiki kalpah, an] expres- sion which may possibly refer to the Eausika-siitras of the Atharva-veda. 186 KALPA. S&tras. Unless, therefore, a quotation can be brought forward previous to E&ty&yana, and referring to a collection of Ealpa-siitras, such quotation calling the Siitras not by the name of their author, but by the name of a Gharana, not in the singular, but in the masculine plural, Kum&rila's distinction between Brdihmanas and Siitras remains unshaken, and we are justified in maintaining that the Kalpa-s&tras, in spite of some apparent similarity with the later Br&hmanas, belong to a period of literature different in form and character from that which preceded it, and which gave rise to the traditionary literature of the Br&h- manas. The Kalpa-s^tras are important in the history of Vedic literature for more than one reason. They not only mark a new period of literature, and a new purpose in the literary and religious life of India, but they contributed to the gradual extinction of the numerous Brfthmanas, which to us are therefore only known by name. The introduction of a Kalpa-siitra was the introduction of a new book of liturgy. If it was adopted by different Gharanas, smaller differences in the ceremonial and its allegorical interpretation, which had been kept up by the Br&hmanas of each Gharana, would gradually be merged in one common ceremonial; or, if they were considered of sufficient importance, a short mention, such as we find here and there in the Siitras, would suffice, and render the tedious discus- sions of the Br&hmanas on the same points, super- fluous. If the SAtras were once actaiowledged as authoritative, they became the most important part of the sacred literature which a Brahman had to study. Those who had to perform the sacrifices might do so without the Veda, simply by means KALPA. 187 of the Kalpa-s^tras; but no one could learn the ceremonial from the hymns and Brd^hmanas alone, without the help of the SAtras.^ There remained, indeed, the duty of every Brahman to learn his Sv^ dhydpya, which comprised the hymns and the Brdh-^ manas. But complaints were made, at least at a later time, that the hymns and the Br^manas were neglected on account of the Sutras, and one of the reasons why the Hotri priests were never allowed to have a prayer-book, such as the hymn-books of the Yajur-veda and S&ma-veda, was the fear that they would then neglect their Svftdhy&ya, and learn only those hymns which were enjoined for the sacrifices by the Ealpa-s4tras. We need not wonder, there- fore, if, after a short time, the authors of Kalpa- sutras became themselves the founders of new Chara-> nas, in which the Siitras were considered the most essential portion of the sacred literature; so that the hymns and Brdhmanas were either neglected, or kept up under the name of " the hymns and Brd;h manas of the new Charana," having ceased to form by themselves the foundation of an independent tradi- tion or school. In order to make quite dear the influence which the S{ltras exercised on the final constitution of the Vedic Gharanas we ought to distinguish between three classes of Gharanas: 1. Those which originated with the texts of Sanhitli.s; 2. Those which originated with the texts of Br&hmanas ; 3. Those which ori- ginated with the Sutras. KAX.FA. ^ed BOt enter here into the question, whether ^^VJ-y ^^^^ "was but one "Veda, and whether this /^^^ ^^^^ -Veda became afterwards divided into three \i/^ ^^ 0 ^^ S&.kba8, the Rig-veda, Yajur-veda, and ^^-^^^r^ ^^ "^^^^ is *lie view adopted by the Brah- ' ^^^^^ ^d.'^^l consider these three divisions as the ^^^ ^ ^&'^ ancient g&kh&s, and their propagators or ^^^ -^r^^L>a*^e three most ancient Charanas. This ^^ ^^^^t^^^ mistake. It is the same mistake which ^^^^Z^^^ *^® assumption of a common Hterary lan- u"*^ ^ -r ^vio3 to the existence of the spoken dia- ^^^ ^t%er^^.^^ ^<^* *le various dialects existed ^^^^ -^ to *Je establishment of the classical lan- ?**S^ ^-r*^ a:H ^'^\ collection of Vedic hjmns is that ^'^^^:^^ ^e **^^ 'V^^ Rig-veda, a collection, not ^^^^ t^tl* *"^ reference to the threefold division %,WV^^ ^er ceremonial, and therefore not one of three tfv^^ ^^J; i,ut the onginal stock, to which the other °* *!?ot^^^ V^J'"'':''? ^ ^^^ S4ma-veda, were added at a br**%.i,^ "V. period. '^ucl- ^t^t>^* Cowl f^'*^ ^u^ ^^^'^^^ <^f ^J^ch "^Tbe '*'^J5^ knowledge are those which arose from we y^^^^^0 ^n *?' *^^5 1ft ^^g-r^-nhilA, such lifferen^^^J^Icalas and Sakalas. We never hear of either Br^^^ttJral conclusion, confirmed besides bv and the ^^titVj is that they diverged and became native ^nt^^^ the strength of various readings and separated ^ ^Ti*^^^' affectmg the texts of theS- S*!, other pecvgjM-^^ is no evidence as to the f^-H-l-*^ \ MtAs. rl^^f^-^^khAs fortheYajur-vedr^^^^ ""^ ''r^^^ sl :^''|tfee the two 6&khas of the ^ ^ ^^'"^' -^ii,:!^ *^^/ presuppose the existence of f'^i KALPA. 189 saneyi-sanhitll, and thisY&jasaneyi-sanhit^ woald have been perfectly useless without a Br&hmana.